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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1999)
I I I Page 6 • Monday, June 7, 1999 EWS The I I I Officials looking to plane systems for crash details LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Fed eral investigators removed part of the twisted and charred fuselage of an American Airlines jet yesterday in an effort to get to computers that controlled the aircraft’s mechanical systems. The computers could help inves tigators learn whether Flight 1420’s spoilers, reverse thrusters and brak ing systems were functioning properly when the plane landed in a storm Thesday night and skidded off the end of the runway, broke apart and caught fire, killing Capt. Richard Buschmann and eight passen gers. Investigators con sider information from the computers crucial to determin ing whether me chanical failure, hu man error, weather or some combination caused the first domestic commercial airline deaths in 1 1/2 years. “Everything is a possible cause. What we need to do is ... start nar rowing the scope,” Greg Feith, lead investigator for the National Trans portation Safety Board (NTSB), said. The computers are located in the lower part of the MD-82’s fuselage, underneath the cockpit and inaccessible until the main wreckage is lifted and removed, Feith said. Removal of the larger pieces will likely begin today, when a lull in air traffic would permit closing a runway to move the hull to a private hangar near the crash site. Investigators have recovered and are analyzing the plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, and have interviewed witnesses. “They give us a lot of informa tion, but they don’t give us all the answers,” he said. The jet’s spoilers — panels on the trailing edge of the wings — were sup posed to be raised at touchdown to break the plane’s lift and slow the air craft. Reverse thrusters from the engines are en gaged until the plane slows to a speed at which the pilot can safely steer it on the ground. In an interview Friday, First Officer Michael Origel said he believes the cap tain set the spoilers. A flight data recorder indicates they never popped up when the plane landed. While much of the early investi gation focused on a severe thunder storm, Origel told the NTSB the plane approached the airport through a break in the clouds. Origel, who was released Sat urday from a hospital where he had been recovering from a bro ken leg, told authorities he be lieved the jet hydroplaned on the runway. Investigators have said the runway was adequately grooved and that the jetliner had a firm grip on the pavement. 'They (the plane's onboard comput ers) give us a lot of information, but they don't give us all the answers." — Greg Feith Lead investigator. National Transportation Safety Board Spending, youth crime lead issues in Congress HYDE WASHINGTON (AP) — Guns and money dominate the agenda as Congress returns today from a weeklong Memorial Day break, with Republicans hoping to master two issues that have caused them fits this year. The House Ju diciary Commit tee plans to write a wide-ranging ju venile justice bill this week that Re publicans hope will avoid the kind of setbacks GOP senators en dured in May. Senate Democrats, seizing on the public outcry after shootings April 20 at Colorado’s Columbine High School, forced Republicans to add gun restrictions to a juvenile justice bill approved by a 73-25 vote. The House and Senate also could vote this week on spending bills, from agriculture to defense, for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. These must-pass measures have caused heartburn for Re publicans; the bills cut domestic programs too much or not enough, insist competing groups of GOP lawmakers. “I hope we can agree on an agen da and transmit that agenda to peo ple concerned about our focus,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a presi dential contender who has taken on Senate leaders before, said. On the crime front, the House’s juvenile justice bill will not reach the full chamber until the week of June 14. Rep. Henry Hyde, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has said the bill’s gun-control provi sions will be similar but not iden tical to the Senate’s. These include background checks of firearms purchasers at gun shows and re quirements that handguns be sold with trigger locks. Hyde’s bill is expected to be broader than the Senate measure, however, offering proposals he said would “curb the culture of vi olence that has engulfed our young people.” FRffijpN improvisationed comedy Auditions: Join the ranks of the Laugh Army. Monday, June 7 7:00 pm in MSC 027 (next to the Barbershop) Callbacks on June 8 For Info. Call 731-1 148 Piece of cake .. BRADLEY ATCHISONTli Amanda Ramccyk (left) presents Betty T. Dickchat with her prize after Dickchat won the Cake walk at the thirri n i r mo Oncology's Cancer Survivors Day Sunday. The celebration was held at Central Park in College Station in conjunction with Nattonahm KLA seen as key to peace de KUKES, Albania (AP) — Intent on remaining an armed force and swelled by new recruits bent on revenge, the Kosovo Liberation Army could upset NATO’s plans for the future of the province. The rebels are fighting hard to push as deep into Kosovo as possible before Yugoslav forces leave and American and other international peacekeepers arrive. NATO says Yugoslav forces are coun terattacking, hoping to crush the rebels before then. “As the Serb forces pull out and the NATO forces move into Kosovo, we expect the Kosovo Liberation Army ... not to try to take advantage of the situa tion,” NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea said. “NATO forces n MILOSEVIC will be operating under strict rules of engage ment and, of course, they will not tolerate any hindrance to their mission. More specifically, we hope the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) will renounce violence.” Regardless of the outcome of the latest fight ing, the bloodied, 17,000-strong KLA is in a po sition to become a key player in postwar Koso vo, having gathered sweeping popular support by taking on far superior Serb forces. “The KLA will be the sole force in Kosovo creating institutions. It will be the strongest force influencing the future of Kosovo,” Kadri Kryeziu, a spokesperson for the group, said in the frontier town of Kukes on Sunday. On the brink of extinction after the Serbs ac celerated their crackdown when NATO began airstrikes March 24, the resurgent KLA can rightly claim to have helped the allies achieve Talks slow as B-52s bomb Serbfi KUMANOVO, Macedonia (AP) — Talks bogged down Sunday between NATO and Yu goslav generals on putting a Kosovo peace plan into action, while the alliance kept up the pressure by pounding Serb troops with attacks by B-52 bombers. Maj. Tfey Cate, speaking for the American delegation, said there had been “very little progress” on the second day of meetings and sig naled the discussions were at a critical stage. “There is very little chance of us going into another day,” he said during a break after 10 hours of talks. He said the session would re sume Sunday night and “will go through tonight until it is complete.” The head of the Italian contingent. Col. Carmine di Pascale, said, “There are all kinds of problems.” He and other alliance officials would not elaborate on the difficulties. NATO insists the talks are only to spell out terms of a withdrawal and areitt«J tions. The Yugoslav side reportedl'^ ing more time to extract its troops,i'; guarantees that convoys would noi’i bushed by ethnic Albanian rebels. As the talks labored on, Airfe dropped bombs on Yugoslav armyp.’ near the Albania-Kosovo border, j The strikes were directed at troopsj guerrillas of the Kosovo LiberationAnr Yugoslav artillery continued to lire. Russian Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Barmiancb military attache at the embassy in Belgrs rived at the meeting in the afternoon. Although Russia helped draft theplanj not participated in the implementationii' Barmianchev came only as an observer NATO has said it will persist in itsar paign, which was in its 75th day Sun); til it verifies Yugoslav army and special units are pulling out of Kosovo. victory in Kosovo. NATO acknowledges that KLA attacks flush out Serbian armor and ground troops, exposing them to deadly airstrikes. The Serb crackdown prompted a flood of vol unteers from the vast refugee population and ethnic Albanians living in Europe and North America. Many among the hundreds of thou sands of expatriates help fund the guerrillas via a three percent “Homeland Calling” levy on their incomes. At refugee camps, children chant “UCK,” the Albanian acronym for the KLA, and teen-agers wish they were 18 so they could joiiu roes in the mountains. Mothers proud 1 sons and daughters to tight. ^{,*1 A large majority of the Kosovo refu; gard the KLA as its shield againstfuM repression — a role the guerrillas aret assume. That is not necessarily good news United States and its partners as they! for a peacekeeping mission. NATO exp KLA to transform into a political movef Although NATO launched itsairca! ostensibly to protect Kosovo Albania THE SUMMER THROWDOWN! CORY MORROW WITH SPECIAL GUEST BLIND LUCK THIS THURSDAY»jQ BIG PARTY th t e CANYOM The Battaliof Online offers access tc news from j The Associated Pit The WIRE provides contif* updated news coverage r of the world’s oldest, larger services via The Battalion page. ■ A comprehensive, up-to the-minult newsn»r> the latest AP stories with photos, grapliia.w: 1 • Headlines and bulletins delivered as soon as • U.S.. World. Business, Sports, Science,lechiBki' 1 Arts, and Special Sections. http://battalion.tami m free